Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/141

 EISTORI OF GOODHUE COUNT! 7 99 He guarded the purity of the ballol box with great caution, and was more Hum particular in regard to any votes which favored Wacoota as the county scat. At that time a number of men were employed in cutting wood for steamboats at various points up and down the river. Thej Lived in their respective wood yards, and as the Line between the slate of Wisconsin and the territory of Minnesota was not clearly understood by the judges, it seemed necessary for them to challenge every woodchopper and oblige him to swear in his -vote. This perhaps seemed all the more necessary by reason of the fact that these lumbermen were more or less connected in a business way with the lumbermen at Wacoota and were likely to favor that place as county seat. Men in citizens 7 dress, on the other hand, were more likely to favor Red Wing, and of course to the Red Wing judges the honor and qualifications of these gentlemen were above suspicion. James Wells, who lived on the border of Lake Pepin, was tlie candidate for the Legislature. Having no opposing candidate,. he was elected. He was not an educated man, and the pre-elec- tion speech which he made in Red Wing is said to have been very rare and racy, but unfortunately no notes remain to give the present generation an inkling of what was the subject-matter of that first political speech delivered in Goodhue county. The necessary fifty votes were cast, and Red Wing, receiving a ma- jority, became the county seat. In the spring of the following year Governor Ramsey appointed county officers, as follows : Sheriff, P. S. Fish; treasurer, Calvin Potter; register of deeds, J. W. Hancock; district attorney, Charles Gardner; clerk of district court,, P. Sandford; justice of the peace, James Akers; county commissioners, William Lauver, H. L. Bevans. Rezin Spates. The first session of the board of county commissioners was held at 3 o'clock on the afternoon of June 16, 1854, on a pile of lumber at what is now the intersection of Main and Bush streets, in the city of Red Wing. H. L. Bevans was chosen as chairman of the board and Joseph W. Hancock, register of deeds, was ex-officio clerk of the board. But little business was trans- acted. L. Bates, John Day and M. Sorin were named as assessors and the following districts were assigned them : The northern district, including that portion of the county between the north- ern boundary and Hay creek, was assigned as Mr. Bates' district. The middle district, including that portion of the county between Hay creek and Bullard's creek, was assigned as Mr. Day's dis- trict. The southern district, including that portion of the county not included in the other two districts, and the whole of Wabasha county, was assigned as Sorin 's district. The next meeting was held June 28, and several bills were Ot*#^* r% ~- m a.